


Touching

by FallLover



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, RK900's name is nathan, Sugar Baby AU, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:07:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26784154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallLover/pseuds/FallLover
Summary: Gavin realizes he needs to ditch his physically abusive sugar daddy for a better one. Luckily Gavin runs into Nathan, a local corporate attorney, who helps him up. Nathan's unsure if he's into that kind of relationship, but he's definitely into Gavin.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	Touching

**Author's Note:**

> For Whumptober 2020 Day 2 (well technically day 7) - I've got you (support/carrying).

“Good boy, here’s your reward.”

Gavin felt a piece of paper drift down onto his face and saw some other bills fall to the ground around him. He pushed himself up from the wet ground to the sound of laughter, and distantly heard the group walking away.

It was a bit hard to focus with what he knew was a blossoming black eye and ribs that felt crushed, especially when the streetlights barely reached the alley, but Gavin desperately grabbed for the bills, eyes darting around to find where they might have fallen. He barely saved one from a puddle when he heard someone ask, “Do you need help?”

“No thanks,” Gavin replied, eyes darting around the dirty alley and grabbing another bill. Steve was a rich fuck and of course they were all hundreds. He looked it over – not too dirty – and squinted to see the rest.

“I think you should go to a hospital,” the man from before said.

Gavin paused and looked up from where he crouched on his knees in the dirty alley. A few feet away was a tall as fuck stranger in a suit, holding out a slightly dirty $100 bill. The streetlights left his face in partial shadow. Gavin pushed himself up, pocketed the hundreds he’d picked up already, and carefully stepped closer to the man. He eyed the bill and then reached out to take it. The man didn’t stop him, and released it. Gavin quickly pocketed it and backed away.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” the man asked, frowning. Up close, he looked rather attractive, with his lightly freckled skin, a tasteful hair color, and pretty blue eyes, not to mention the way the suit flattered his shoulders. But all the rich ones Gavin somehow ended up with usually were.

“Fine, thanks,” Gavin said. He turned and pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, shining it around the alley. He found another bill half-hidden on a pile of trash, but didn’t see anything else, so he turned off the flashlight and hoped he’d gotten everything. He was feeling a bit dizzy, anyway.

“I can drive you to the hospital,” Probably Rich Hot Guy said.

Gavin turned around, surprised to see him still standing there. Gavin knew plenty of people paid to see Gavin get beat up, but usually they didn’t pay when they’d first seen him without explanation _already_ beat up.

“It’s fine, thanks,” Gavin repeated, attempting to brush past him. Except he had a moment of vertigo and stumbled into the guy, who easily caught him. _Strong arms_ , Gavin thought, between his growing headache and the pounding of the pain all over his face and chest.

“You’re really not okay,” Probably Rich Hot Guy said. “You need to get your cuts cleaned and patched up, and you could have a concussion.”

Gavin laughed. “Well I can’t afford a hospital visit, so I’ll just head home.”

Probably Rich Hot Guy blinked and said, “Come with me, then.”

“Look dude,” Gavin said, backing away, “I’m not getting into your creepy van with you.”

Probably Rich Hot Guy raised an eyebrow. “My... creepy van? I don’t drive a van.”

“Whatever you drive.”

“I can leave the door unlocked so you can jump into the street if you really want to, but you should go to the emergency room.”

“Yeah, and pay for it _how_?”

“…I’ll pay.”

“...Yeah fucking right.”

“Call it my random act of charity. Now are you going to come along or fall unconscious and die in a ditch?”

Gavin scoffed. “I’m gonna get alley gunk and crap all over your car.”

“That’s what detailing is for.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and followed the guy to a nearby parking garage. Rich Hot Guy put his takeout in the backseat and then unlocked the passenger side so Gavin could get in.

Gavin looked around suspiciously. The car was nice. Not overpriced-ego-show-off nice, but nice.

“Seatbelt,” Rich Hot Guy said as he put his own on.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gavin replied, complying.

Rich Hot Guy put the key in, put the nearest hospital into the GPS, and headed for it.

“How do you know I’m not gonna like... pull a gun on you or whatever?”

“ _Are_ you?” Rich Hot Guy asked, glancing at him briefly before looking back at the road. “It would be a dumb idea to try while I’m driving.”

“Maybe when you stop at a light, then.”

“And when I let go of the brakes because of my surprise and the car rolls into oncoming traffic?”

Gavin scoffed. “Yeah well. This is fucking stupid if you ask me.”

“Noted. My name’s Nathan, by the way.”

“…Gavin.”

“A pleasure to meet you Gavin.”

Gavin snorted. The car smelled like Chinese takeout, which reminded Gavin he hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“…So…” Nathan began, “What happened? Did you… get jumped or something?”

“What? No.”

“Oh.”

When Gavin didn’t continue, Nathan asked, “So what happened?”

“Fucking hell, my sugar daddy beat me up to make himself look cool.”

“…You’re not serious.”

“I mean I don’t typically call them that, but you asked.” Gavin studied Nathan’s expression. It was hard to tell in the dark, but he didn’t think Nathan had a disgusted expression on. It was more… vaguely surprised or blank. “How about… the guy who pays me to dress in tight clothes and sit at his feet sometimes at parties beat me up?”

“You should report him to the police.”

Gavin shrugged. “Oh yeah, I’m sure they’re dying to come after someone who beat up someone like me.”

Nathan grimaced. “Yeah, well… Still.”

“Reassuring advice, Nathan. Thanks.”

“Does he know where you live? Would he come after you?”

Gavin sighed. “No, he doesn’t know where I live. I always meet _him_ somewhere. It’s not like this is my first time with this sort of thing.”

“You’ve…? This has happened before? Someone beat you up and left you in an alley to bleed out?”

“Well not _exactly_ like this, but I’ve had other guys before. They don’t get my home address. I know you saw me dumpster diving for money, but give me a little credit for brains.”

“Well I hardly know you, and people in general tend to be rather stupid. But I suppose I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“You’re so charitable.”

The nurses took Gavin away quickly enough and Nathan waited outside the room while they worked. Gavin had expected him to scram once they got to the hospital, but he stuck around. It was weird.

Thankfully it wasn’t too terrible. They cleaned him up, bandaged the scrapes, gave him some anti-inflammatories for his ribs, and let him go with an ice pack.

Gavin had to give Nathan permission to pay, and Gavin and the admin both stared at Nathan while he paid.

“Come on,” Nathan said as they left. “You need more ice on your injuries.”

“So what?” Gavin demanded by the car. “You’re gonna take me in? Your little _stray_?”

Nathan scoffed.

“You’re probably loaded,” Gavin commented. “I could rob you blind.”

“Your focus on warning me of the dangers and frustrations you present to me is fascinating.”

Gavin snorted. “I’ll just take the fucking bus home, jeez…”

Nathan pursed his lips. “…Fine. But would you call me in the morning to let me know you’re okay?” He pulled out his wallet, dug out a business card, and held it out to Gavin.

Gavin rolled his eyes and took the card, glaring at it. “Nathan Stern? …And you’re a fucking lawyer?”

“Yes.”

“…Sure.” Gavin turned away and walked towards the nearest bus stop.

Nathan didn’t follow after him.

* * *

In the morning, Nathan stared at his phone 15 minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off, wondering if he should just call in to work that he had the day off. He didn’t particularly hate going into work, but he just felt… bored. He’d felt bored for longer than he could remember. He’d still do the work, of course, he needed money to pay for food and his mortgage, but…

Nathan buried his head in the pillows, wishing he’d go back to sleep.

Someone started a lawn mower outside.

Nathan grumbled before pushing himself back up.

He ended up teleworking. As he was making his breakfast tea, he got a text message from an unknown number.

[???]: This is Gavin. I’m fine

[Nathan]: Did you get more ice?

[Gavin]: yes

Nathan smiled. He hadn’t quite expected Gavin to text him, but he was happy he had.

* * *

Gavin sat back on his desk chair and glared at his phone before turning back to work. He was in the middle of his latest art commission. It had to get done if he wanted to pay his phone bill, but he just wanted to… make good on his promise to Nathan. He kept his promises, fuck it. He _did_.

Even if he didn’t want into whatever this weirdness with Nathan was. He didn’t trust it. Getting asked out by random guys at a club was one thing. Having a stranger pay for his hospital bill was another.

His phone dinged and he looked at it to see…

[Tina]: Sup dude. How’s life?

Gavin sighed. He’d told Tina where he was going, and what time he was heading home. He’d reported he was home, and then hadn’t said anything else. Hadn’t talked about the date. Hadn’t posted anything about it anywhere. He certainly hadn’t told her about getting beaten up or meeting Nathan.

[Gavin]: Fine. HBU

[Tina]: Slow morning. Some idiot thought her dog’s tits were fleas and tried pulling them off.

[Gavin]: Did you report her for animal abuse?

[Tina]: We’re not going to talk about how I dealt with that situation.

[Tina]: Did Steve behave himself?

[Gavin]: I told you he was fine

[Tina]: You said you got home and were going to bed. You didn’t say he was fine.

Gavin sighed and went back to work.

Of course his phone buzzed with an incoming call. He grumbled and considered not answering. But… that wouldn’t be a good idea.

So he answered.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“Early lunch break. What happened?”

“He wanted me to suck his cock under the table the whole night.”

She snorted. “ _Please_. He’s too much of a coward for that. What’d he do?”

“Nothing. We sat at a table and he chatted up some people, danced, got dr-ngh!” Gavin winced. He’d moved at an awkward angle for his ribs.

“What just happened?”

“Stabbed my hand with my pen. It’s fine.”

“…Gavin, you know if Steve did something, you can always talk to me about it, right?”

“Yes.” He couldn’t quite keep the pain out of his voice.

“…Good, then. Try not to stab yourself with your pen again.”

“Yup.”

He _had_ denied three calls from Steve at this point, and four texts. Fucker was desperate for some reason. The nurses had said he should rest up, so Gavin could avoid Steve by just… not going around to the usual haunts. Steve was at least useful for _one_ thing, anyway… Last night would pay a few of his bills.

He sighed as he considered returning to SugarDads, where’d he’d found most of his clients. The client he’d had before Steve had moved states, and the client before her decided to try monogamy for a bit. Gavin didn’t know how well it’d last, given the guy had been taking care of two other sugar babies at the time he’d been seeing Gavin, but well… people could change.

Not guys like Steve. Gavin had _his_ number pretty early on. Gavin figured he was good enough to avoid the worst of it. He’d just… be really flirty. Finagle it to keep the interest, nothing else.

Steve hadn’t hit him until two dates ago. Gavin’s regular commission work had been drying up, and he wasn’t popular enough to merit other options. So Gavin had been worried about testing Steve’s limits by refusing, and yeah… he’d let Steve take a swing at him. The guy had offered a couple grand for it. It had seemed worth it. Thankfully the money had gotten him through the recovery time. Unfortunately… stuff cost money, and Gavin was back with the fucker before he could find another client or enough commissions to compensate.

The problem was, Steve hadn’t been the first of his kind. Gavin had two previous clients who’d had similar leanings, and word had gotten around about him, which was how Steve had found him, and he’d lost two potential clients for it, too. Because apparently _Gavin_ was the problem, not the fuckers who got into this thinking it was an excuse to be a douchebag to someone so long as they took your money. Which of course meant Steve had been the only viable option for a bit. It didn’t help that Steve paid pretty well, even by Gavin’s regular standards.

Gavin knew he needed to break things like this off. The nurse had told him he’d nearly been blinded. Steve could have permanently injured his hands. He could have lost half his livelihood. And if he had to cut into Steve’s “generous” payments to pay for hospital bills, that extra “generosity” just wouldn’t be worth it.

But he would have to get more clients. He hadn’t been on the hunt for a bit, focusing on making Steve of all people happy.

He needed to go back to check on and update his profile on SugarDads and ask Chris if he was still willing to help Gavin redo his art website. Chris had offered nearly a month ago and Gavin had never followed up. He’d just been… busy with work. And he could also start livestreams again. A few commission clients had been interested. The few he’d done went well, and if he worked with Chris to build up his platform, maybe he could get even more money out of it.

…That was that, then. He was giving up Steve. He was moving on with his life. Some new clients for both jobs, healing up from this latest wake-up call, and moving on with his life. No more risky clients like Steve. He’d… get better about screening them. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

He’d already had one nightmare of that alley. He didn’t want more.

He got another text and instinctively checked it.

[Nathan]: Wanna get lunch sometime? When you’re better? So I can see you’re doing okay?

Gavin frowned. Was this a weird stalker situation? The dude had been _really_ generous for no particular reason, but…

…But he was well off, seemingly. And willing to part with his money for a stranger.

Gavin grimaced. He was hot, too. And not dumb. Well… not overly dumb. Dumb enough to waste money on Gavin, but… smart, behind all that. Charitable.

Attorney, though. Didn’t know how that’d work out. The last one he’d dated had a whole foot thing. Which, no judgment, but it wasn’t Gavin’s thing.

…Worth a shot, though.

* * *

Nathan stared at the text on his phone and wondered what exactly he was getting himself into.

[Gavin]: Yeah, sure. Busy for a bit, but I’m free next week.

It had been dumb luck he’d spotted Gavin that night. Nathan hadn’t been paying attention to anyone on his walks home. He just went home. That was all. Ate his food alone, played some sudoku, and went to sleep. That was all. Really, that’s all it was. Dumb luck that he’d looked up for once and tried to follow through on something.

He should let it go. He did his good deed. Paying someone else’s hospital bill out of pocket, driving him to the hospital, giving a stranger in case the guy needed help again (sort of)…

…But he should… check on Gavin, right? In person? The guy had been beaten up in an alley by his… boyfriend?

Nathan wanted to make sure he was okay, at least. That was all.

Lunch sometime wasn’t terrible. Gavin had seemed wary and intent on convincing Nathan _out_ of spending his money on charity. He just seemed like a decent guy who was down on his luck and had trusted the wrong person.

Nathan wasn’t an idiot. He barely knew the man. But he was going to be generous and hope for the best. If nothing else, it’s not like Nathan couldn’t defend himself. He’d only stopped karate to focus on grad school, not because he was bad at it. And then he’d gotten back into it to offload steam because _grad school_.

He looked around his empty, quiet house.

At least it was something to pass the time, anyhow.

* * *

Nathan experienced an uncomfortable swooping sensation in his stomach when he realized that, unfortunately, Gavin was attractive.

It hit when Gavin walked into the restaurant Nathan had picked out, noticed Nathan waving, grinned, and walked over.

Nathan hadn’t thought about it that night in the alley. It was dark, Gavin had dirt and blood on his face and his shirt was a mess. Even in the hospital lighting, it was almost worse: hospital lighting flattered no one at the best of times. So Gavin as a _specimen_ wasn’t something Nathan had thought about.

But now Nathan was noticing. Because now Gavin was clean and wearing fresh clothes and he had a confident look on his face – and no black eye – as he walked over and the sunshine _was_ flattering.

And Nathan reminded himself he’d found Gavin knocked around in an alley by a guy who’d been paying him money for being a sort of boyfriend? Eye candy? Nathan wasn’t sure what the limits of Gavin’s relationship was. He’d googled them beforehand and the results had been… conflicting. He imagined it was a perfectly fine occupation, but it seemed like Gavin had been on the bad end of experiences.

Anyway, Nathan was here as a Good Samaritan, mainly. To see how Gavin was doing. That was all. Gavin had been beaten up, and Nathan helped him out.

As Gavin sat down, Nathan promised himself to reopen his online dating profile. He really needed to get laid.

Not that the profile had ever resulted in that, given that Nathan was a disaster at flirting and sexting. But he lived in hope. And desperation.

Up close Nathan was glad he’d spent so long faking professional allure and happiness. Because he kept wondering if he was gaping or smiling politely and imagined he probably just looked like a melting wax painting titled ‘Tall man tries to smile’.

“So how are you feeling?” Nathan started, to distract from whatever was on his face. “You look a lot better.”

“Thanks. I’m doing pretty well, actual. Most of it’s healed. Well… the ribs are still healing, but as long as I take it easy, you know?”

“Good, good. Glad to hear.”

“Haven’t been to this place in a while,” Gavin said, looking around briefly before pulling up the menu. “Came here with a client ages ago. The food was good.”

“Oh should I...? Should we go somewhere else?” Nathan wasn’t sure why. Gavin _had_ said not _all_ of his jobs were bad.

“Naw, it’s fine. I’d have said if it was a problem.”

Nathan smiled, not knowing what else to say.

“So how’s your day been?” Gavin asked, grinning like it was just natural.

Nathan wondered what’s kissing Gavin was like and then replied, “Good, actually. Really good. Well normal. Work is... well it’s probably boring to anyone else. Even I find it boring at times.” Most of the time, but not in the way most people he explained it to were bored.

“So what stuff do you do?”

The meal went well, all things considered. The food was good, the conversation flowed well. Nathan even made a few jokes, which Gavin laughed at, although Nathan immediately forgot whatever it was he said amidst the warm feeling of making Gavin laugh.

“You’re not on the market for a sugar baby are you?” Gavin asked at one point, grinning again.

“I… No. No offense, but no. It would be a bad idea for a lot of reasons.”

“Ah.” Gavin picked up his napkin to wipe his face and his grin shrank a little.

Nathan blinked. “There are ethical rules I have to follow with my work and... more importantly it’s just not something I’m really into. Not because it’s _you_ , just… as a concept, the… sugar baby thing isn’t for me. And it’s not you – _you’re_ great.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Great, huh?”

Nathan snorted. “Oh you know what I mean.” He was flushing. “Anyone you sugar for would be lucky to have you.”

“D’awww you _like_ me.”

Nathan snorted. “So what if I did?”

Gavin ran a seemingly idle hand through his hair, but his eyes were locked on Nathan’s. Nathan couldn’t help watching Gavin’s fingers travel down to the side of his neck and drift in a mockingly not-even-trying-to-be-casual way across his skin.

“What if you did?” Gavin asked, his voice heated.

Nathan swallowed and looked down at his food. “I apologize. I didn’t mean this to be… I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“I know. I didn’t think otherwise. But Nathan, have you considered that maybe I like you, too?”

Nathan looked up at Gavin in surprise and felt like the look on his face should have been illegal. It made Nathan feel goosebumps and… think of _many_ bad things.

“You barely know me.”

“I mean you paid for my hospital bill, and you took me to this nice place for lunch and you seem like a decent guy. I’ve had worse second dates.”

“The other night wasn’t a _date_.”

“Worse _first_ dates.”

Nathan shook his head again. “And this isn’t part of… Doesn’t it interfere with your work?”

Gavin huffed a laugh. “I schedule time with clients. I don’t see anyone until next week. And how _would_ it interfere? What, I can’t find a guy I met hot because he’s not paying me for the privilege?”

Nathan flushed.

Gavin smirked. “I was trying to be semi-subtle about how I’ve noticed you staring ever since I sat down. Which I appreciate, by the way.”

“It would be a bad idea,” Nathan said, quietly.

“What would?” Gavin asked, innocently, his grin back.

* * *

Nathan rolled his hips and made Gavin grunt and tighten his legs around Nathan’s torso. They’d ended up back at Nathan’s place, which was closer, and barely made it through the door before Gavin was on him and trying to take his shirt off. Nathan had to put his foot down, if only because he was better at divesting himself of his own clothes, and led them to the bedroom.

“Fuck… Do that again!”

Nathan was already breathing hard as he leaned down over Gavin, sweat dripping onto Gavin’s chest. Nathan could hear Gavin’s labored breathing, and focused on the crushing heat around his cock. Nathan had tried to be as careful as possible with Gavin’s ribs, but Gavin had gotten impatient about it. The solution thus far was for Gavin to be lying down, and for Nathan to just be careful with how he braced them with his knees.

“F-Harder!”

Nathan snorted and acquiesced, and that finally led to Gavin moaning softly. Gavin already had his eyes closed and was moving his hand along his own cock, quickly, clutching the blanket with his free hand.

Nathan reached down and grasped around Gavin’s fingers, helping him along.

Gavin gasped loudly as he came all over their hands, his hips jerking helplessly. Nathan milked him through it before Gavin finally sagged back.

Nathan hesitated, watching Gavin’s blissed out expression and the way his chest heaved.

“…You gonna finish?” Gavin slurred after a minute.

“Uh… Yeah.”

Nathan started back into his quick rhythm, going deeper now without Gavin fighting him on it. Somehow Gavin managed to squeeze around him a bit, making a delicious squeeze. Nathan picked up his pace, then finally squeeze Gavin’s thighs and pressed as deep as possible as he came. His breath stuttered.

When he came back to reality, he pulled out, took the condom off and tossed it into the trashcan, then flopped down next to Gavin.

They were both breathing heavily on the bed, their legs still partially tangled together.

Nathan wanted to reach out and brush Gavin’s sweaty hair. He knew he was a cuddler. Always more tactile than others wanted.

And it was because of that, that he didn’t reach out now. Was that weird for a hook-up? Nathan didn’t know, since he hadn’t had any before.

“So that was hot,” Gavin said. “Should have met up earlier.”

“Yeah,” Nathan said. “This was great.” He sounded _way_ too nervous and didn’t know how to hide it.

“You okay?” Gavin asked, looking over at him.

“Yeah, I… I’m great.” Nathan smiled awkwardly, not knowing what else to do.

“Cause you don’t sound okay.”

“I mean I liked the sex a lot, it was great, um… I just don’t normally hook up with people, you know?”

“…Oh.”

“Not that this was bad!” Nathan continued. “But uh… it’s a bit surreal.”

“I didn’t like… pressure you or anything, right?” Gavin asked. “I mean I did… come on a bit strong.”

“God, no, I was thinking about how your lips tasted the minute you walked in the damn restaurant.” Nathan clapped a hand over his face. “I sound ridiculous.”

“How did they taste?” Gavin asked, leaning over him.

Nathan peeked between his fingers and smiled. “Good, actually.”

Gavin grinned.

Nathan smiled and scratched his neck. “So uh… what do you wanna do now?”

“We could order pizza.”

“You’re hungry?”

“I mean yeah. Didn’t eat much at lunch and I skipped breakfast. And you know, all that sex kind of took it out of me. Literally.” He playfully stuck his tongue out between his teeth and Nathan scoffed at him, but kept smiling.

“…All right.”

Nathan got up to go get his phone.

Gavin groaned loudly.

Nathan turned back, alarmed. Gavin had turned slightly on his side and was shaking a bit. “Gavin? What’s wrong, are you okay?”

“Ugh… fucking ribs, kind of… hurts a bit.”

“Let me… can I get you some…? I only have like… regular motrin. Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“No, just… just… fuck um… nnnng…”

Nathan clutched his phone, not knowing what to do. He blinked and entered “treating bruised ribs” and looked up the answers.

“Stay here,” he finally said, and got up off the bed, forgetting that Gavin couldn’t really move. He ran into his kitchen, then scrambled back when he realized he’d left the blinds open. He snatched a towel from the bathroom, draping it around his waist, before running back to the kitchen. He pulled out two bags of frozen corn, wrapped them in a dish cloth, poured some water into a glass, carried that back to the bedroom to set it down, then ran back to the bathroom for his motrin.

He returned to the bedroom and knelt on the bed. “Gavin, I need you to sit up a bit so you can take the motrin and drink something.”

Gavin grumbled, moaned slightly when he moved, but eventually they got him up so he could pop the pill and swallow down some water. Nathan put the glass aside and helped him settle back on the blankets, then placed the wrapped corn on Gavin’s stomach.

Gavin hissed. “Cold.”

“Is it too much? I can wrap it some more. You can move them around too, to where it hurts.”

“Mmm…” Gavin moved the corn a bit, but left it. “S’fine.” He shut his eyes.

Nathan realized his heart was beating too quickly.

“…Thanks,” Gavin finally said.

“What?”

“Thanks. For… for this.”

“I mean I caused it, so…”

“I was the one who wanted to fuck. Dunno if you noticed this, but I kinda suck at taking care of myself.”

Nathan snorted. “I get that feeling.” He settled back down on the bed, careful not the jostle Gavin. “Is that… why you sugar? Someone to take care of you?”

Gavin opened his eyes. “You know… never thought about it like that. I mean it’s nice to have people who’ll just pay you a lot for your time. Just… being hot and around them. It’s fun, really. That I’m getting paid is a major plus. There are worse things I could get paid for than sort of flirting and wearing tight clothes at a loud club or a party with fancy food.”

“Sounds like the life,” Nathan replied.

Gavin laughed. “Yeah it’s not for everyone. But when it’s good, it works.”

“I don’t mean to be judgmental. I’m glad it makes you happy.”

“Yeah…” Gavin shut his eyes. “Yeah, it… it does. I’m gonna change things up. Go back to that. Not… not this guy. Or guys like him. It’s not me anymore.”

“That… sounds like a great idea. I don’t want to see you half-dead in any alleys.”

Gavin laughed. “Well, at least I got to meet you, right?”

Nathan flushed, and flushed harder when Gavin opened his eyes and turned his head to grin at him.

“Yes, well… You’re just lucky. That I’m so… nice.”

“Do you like taking care of me?” Gavin asked, still smiling. “This would be the second time.”

Nathan snorted. “Are you asking me to be your sugar daddy again?”

“You’d be good at it. I mean it’s not usually this specific kind of thing… There’s more like… dinners and fancy outings and shit—but it’s still like… I don’t know… vaguely adjacent to this.”

Nathan sighed. “It’s… there are rules, I can’t just…”

“I’ve had clients who were attorneys.”

“Well we’re not all the _same_. Are all sugar babies the same?”

Gavin snorted. “Touché.”

Nathan bit his lip. “Let me… Let me think about it, okay?”

Gavin looked at him, surprised.

“I just… need to think.”

“…Okay.”

“Are you really against just… normal… dating?”

“So it’s a date now?” Gavin smirked again.

“Oh shut up…” Nathan mimed punching him. “You know what I mean.”

Gavin looked away. “I mean I was kind of open to the idea when I first suggested this. I just didn’t know if this was a date or a hook-up or what. I’m trying to dig myself out of a money hole right now. That’s why I clung to Steve so much. He’s the douchebag who fucked me up that night.” He frowned. “But I’m working on some stuff to… to change course and all. Maybe… maybe I could get back into dating again. I’m hopefully gonna be really busy. I’ve got another job where I'm gonna try and get more work by changing some stuff, and I’m planning to pick up more sugaring clients. Better ones. Which means I'll be busier, hopefully. And I don’t know what your schedule’s like.”

“That’s… true…”

“I mean I’m not trying to like… Look, if it’s not something you’re into, I get that. I haven’t really dated anyone in a hot minute, so this is more what I lean on, naturally, I guess.”

“So you _are_ open to just dating?”

“Yeah, okay? Jeez. Softie. You like me _that_ quickly.” Gavin grinned. “You date a lot of random strangers you pay hospital bills for?”

“Only the ones I don’t want to see dead in a ditch because they don’t take care of themselves.”

“I’m fucking poor, dude, and healthcare here fucking sucks.”

Nathan winced. “Yeah… sorry.” Nathan rubbed his neck. “I’m not sure why’d you be interested in dating _me_ , frankly. It’s… Isn’t it patronizing?”

“A little, but you’re hot, and you at least seem to spot your issues, so… I’ll give you some breaks. Plus, your bed’s comfy.”

“Oh?” Nathan replied, smiling. “Just that?”

“Just that,” Gavin replied, shutting his eyes again. “The rest we can work on.”


End file.
